Descripción del proyecto
Transferencia de carbono entre plantas a través de redes fúngicas
La mayoría de las plantas terrestres transfieren parte del carbono orgánico que producen por fotosíntesis a los hongos asociados a sus raíces, una situación beneficiosa para ambos debido a que estos hongos ayudan a las plantas a absorber agua y nutrientes del suelo. Pruebas recientes sugieren que hasta el 35 % de las plantas verdes son capaces de absorber una parte de dicho carbono cuando la luz resulta insuficiente a fin de llevar a cabo la fotosíntesis de compuestos orgánicos necesarios para el crecimiento. El equipo del proyecto MIXOTROPH, financiado con fondos europeos, prevé investigar la diversidad fúngica y vegetal implicada en este proceso de intercambio y los factores ambientales que influyen en él. Esto tendrá repercusiones fundamentales en nuestra comprensión del ciclo del carbono y su conservación.
Objetivo
Plants need light to grow. They use energy from sunlight to produce organic carbon. However, new findings – including my own work – now hint that up to 35% of all plant species can also obtain carbon from root-associated fungi when light availability is insufficient for growth. This calls into question much of what we thought we knew about how plants survive in the understory. The goal of this project is to determine the frequency and magnitude of this newly discovered form of ‘mixotrophy’ in our terrestrial ecosystems. I will achieve this exciting goal by working at the intersection of physiology, ecology, evolutionary and molecular biology. The vast majority of land plants transfer part of the organic carbon they produce by photosynthesis to root-associated ‘arbuscular mycorrhizal’ (AM) fungi, which help plants to take up nutrients and water from the soil. My previous findings demonstrate that this carbon can be subsequently taken up by rare non-green plants that tap into the same fungal network. This paved the way for the discovery of AM mixotrophy, in which common green plants take up carbon from AM fungi. However, the plant and fungal diversity involved in AM mixotrophy are unknown. Likewise, the environmental drivers that influence carbon uptake have never been measured, nor do we know about its evolution and geographic distribution. This is problematic because we are unable to quantify or understand the role of AM mixotrophy in our natural world. With field studies, laboratory experiments, and genetic screening of natural history collections, I will (1) identify AM mixotrophic plants and their habitats; (2) reveal environmental drivers that regulate carbon uptake; (3) expose fungal networks that sustain AM mixotrophs; and (4) measure the magnitude of AM mixotrophy across evolutionary and geographic scales. This will lead to a fundamental shift in our understanding of carbon uptake by plants, with profound effects for carbon cycling models and conservation.
Ámbito científico
Programa(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Régimen de financiación
HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-BasedInstitución de acogida
2333 CR Leiden
Países Bajos